COLLABORATION The government should place environmental requirements on pharmaceuticals, writes the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (DN). This is the message from Joakim Larsson, professor of environmental pharmacology at Sahlgrenska Academy and one of the initiators behind the Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research at the University of Gothenburg (CARe).
Ten years ago, Joakim Larsson and his group were able to show extremely high levels of antibiotics in Indian waters, a finding which also received considerable international attention. “In the treated water from a water treatment plant that handled the waste water from around 90 pharmaceutical factories, we found levels of antibiotics that were well above those you would have in your blood when you take an antibiotic,” Joakim Larsson told DN.
Even sediments from the river further downstream from the treatment plant contained large amounts of antibiotics, which means that the pharmaceuticals had made their way into the groundwater and that large areas were affected by the discharges. The high levels of antibiotics had also increased the percent of resistant bacteria in the area; a typical bacterium from the treatment plant was found to be resistant to 30 of the 39 tested antibiotics.
This week the UN will bring together its member countries to a summit to discuss antibiotic resistance. In the interview with Dagens Nyheter, Joakim Larsson calls for concrete measures: “The resistance genes we find today in pathogenic bacteria often originate in harmless environmental bacteria. A relatively simple measure to reduce the risk of such transfers is to limit discharges from the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.”
He argues that Sweden has a tradition of being proactive in environmental issues and has the opportunity to take a leading role in this issue. Larsson suggests that the government revise the terms for so-called generic medicines, so the price is not the only factor in choosing which medicine to use. The environmental impact should also be included when assessing whether pharmacists should recommend a medication and whether it should be subsidized by the state through the medicine cost ceiling system.
You can read the full Swedish article with Joakim Larsson in DN here: http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/forskare-vill-skarpa-kraven-pa-lakemedelstillverkarna/
